Adelaide or Hobart?

Adelaide has the beaches for actual swimming. Sandy shores face west over the sheltered Gulf St Vincent. Glenelg is a tram ride from the centre, and quieter jetty suburbs such as Henley Beach, Brighton and Semaphore run along the same coast. For clearer water, the reef at Port Noarlunga and the coves around Port Willunga are within an hour.

Hobart's bays are just as calm, so the difference between the two cities is the water temperature, not the surf. Sandy Bay, Kingston Beach and the long curve of Seven Mile Beach are good for a walk along the shore or a brisk plunge. In late summer, Adelaide's water is warm enough to spend whole afternoons in.

Adelaide has the broader table. The Central Market and Chinatown sit side by side, Gouger Street and the inner suburbs run from Vietnamese to tasting menus, and wine from the Barossa, McLaren Vale and the Hills is poured everywhere.

Hobart eats very well for its size, with channel oysters, fish and chips from the punts at Constitution Dock, Salamanca Market produce, cool-climate pinot and Tasmanian whisky. But it has fewer kitchens and a narrower range of cuisines. In both cities, plan on dining early.

Hobart has more to see for its size. The 1830s warehouses of Salamanca Place, the Georgian lanes of Battery Point and the UNESCO-listed Cascades Female Factory give it a stronger sense of colonial history. MONA, reached by ferry up the Derwent, is a museum people do travel for.

Adelaide gathers its culture along North Terrace. The Art Gallery and the South Australian Museum are especially strong on Aboriginal art and objects, and the State Library's Mortlock Wing is worth a look. It is an orderly, attractive set that fills a day or two, but it has no single headline sight.

Neither city is built for late nights, but Adelaide has more going on. It has small wine bars in laneways around Peel and Leigh Streets, pubs and terraces on Rundle Street, and a louder club crowd on Hindley Street at weekends. During the late-summer festivals, pop-up bars fill the parklands.

Going out in Hobart means pubs, wine bars and whisky bars around Salamanca and North Hobart, with almost no clubbing. A long dinner and a dram is the usual evening.

Hobart is far ahead here. kunanyi/Mount Wellington rises straight behind the city, with trails through fern gullies to the dolerite Organ Pipes and mountain-bike descents back into town. Within a couple of hours are the Tasman Peninsula's sea cliffs and the Three Capes walk, Bruny Island's penguins and white wallabies, and the tall forests and waterfalls of Mount Field. Snow can fall on the summit in any month, so walkers carry warm layers even in summer.

Adelaide's outdoors are pleasant but gentle. You can walk up Mount Lofty, follow the gorge and waterfalls at Morialta, spot koalas in the Hills or paddle among the Port River dolphins. Its great wildlife trip is Kangaroo Island, but that needs more than a day.

Both cities offer strong day trips, but of different kinds, and you need a car for most of them from either base. From Adelaide the outings are about wine: the Barossa's Lutheran villages, McLaren Vale running down to the sea, the Clare Valley's Riesling and the Prussian-settler street of Hahndorf. Days are spent tasting and lunching.

Hobart's outings lean towards history and island scenery. Port Arthur's convict ruins are the highlight, alongside Georgian Richmond and its old bridge, the orchards and cider makers of the Huon Valley, and the car ferry to Bruny Island for oysters and lighthouse views.

Adelaide gives children more to do with less effort. The zoo sits by the Botanic Garden, Cleland lets children get close to kangaroos and koalas, and Monarto has open-range African animals. Glenelg's shallow water and big riverside playgrounds round out an easy, flat city. Only summer heatwave afternoons need planning around.

Hobart's wildlife sanctuaries, with Tasmanian devils and wombats, are a real treat. Beyond those, the city relies on forest walks, penguin spotting and Port Arthur, which work best for older children in good boots, as there is no zoo and few beach days.

Adelaide is easier to get around. Its flat grid suits walking and cycling, the city loop bus and the central tram section are free, and the tram runs straight to the beach at Glenelg.

Hobart's centre is compact too, but the streets climb steeply from the water. Its buses are modest, the river ferry to MONA is the most useful link, and the mountain bus is limited. Both cities need a hire car for the countryside, and in Hobart most visitors rent one.

Adelaide has the wider range, though it is still modest. Rundle Mall has the department stores and old arcades, and King William Road has the boutiques. The best things to take home are South Australian opal, Aboriginal art from desert communities and wine bought at the cellar door.

Hobart's shopping is best on a Saturday, when Salamanca Market fills the waterfront with stalls. Through the week, the craft galleries in the old warehouses sell Huon pine woodwork and local glass, and Tasmanian gin and whisky make good things to take home. If you are shopping for fashion, you will find little in either city.

Both cities have Australian prices, and neither is cheap. In Adelaide, the Central Market and Chinatown eateries keep everyday meals reasonable and hotels are easy to find outside the festival weeks, but wine touring adds car hire or tour fees.

Hobart's extra costs come from the car most visitors need, sight entry fees, and rooms that fill through summer and the New Year yacht race. Self-catering with excellent island produce and free walks on the mountain help to balance them.

Adelaide's late summer puts it well ahead. The Fringe fills tents and pubs with comedy and cabaret, the Adelaide Festival brings international theatre and opera, and WOMADelaide takes over Botanic Park. Through the rest of the year the Festival Centre and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra keep up a steady programme.

Hobart's stages are smaller but have character. The Theatre Royal is Australia's oldest working playhouse, and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra plays on the waterfront. The MONA-linked festivals, including one in midwinter, bring experimental work, but on an ordinary night there is little choice.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, so rest in both comes from the slow pace rather than spas. Adelaide's version is long vineyard lunches, garden strolls in the parklands and retreats in the Hills that pair treatments with wine country.

In Hobart, rest means quiet mornings on the sandstone waterfront and clean, cool air. Some locals swim in the Derwent through winter, and the more restorative stays are in lodges in the surrounding countryside.